Vlad Chorniy/Shutterstock
The threat of COVID may be receding, but the fall-out will continue to affect business in the coming year, requiring strong leadership to navigate uncertain times.
Bianca De Marchi
The supply crisis in the meat processing industry was entirely predictable. Employers and the government should have seen it coming.
Avigator Fortuner/Shutterstock
Supply chains are facing a complex and unpredictable world in the year ahead.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The lack of preparation has been even more stunning than the miscalculation. As prime minister, Scott Morrison has to shoulder prime responsibility.
James Ross/AAP
Australia has a short-term distribution problem, not a lack of food problem, and most foods have substitutes.
Shutterstock.
Some political and business leaders have, from the outset of COVID-19, downplayed the economic costs of mass illness. We’re now seeing the result.
Off-road vehicles are driven on a property that will be mined for lithium along the Salton Sea, in Niland, Calif., in July 2021. Lithium is critical to rechargeable batteries.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Canada could become a global leader in the supply of materials needed for renewable energy systems if it finds ways to control the environmental footprints associated with their extraction.
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We’re reliant on overseas supply - and the many moving parts of delivery. Each of those parts require staff on the ground – and many workers in this system are likely being affected by Omicron.
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Covid has led to delays in consumers receiving everything from furniture to groceries. This is how we might reshape supply chains after the pandemic.
Shipping containers have been in short supply.
Blakeley/Alamy
Some of the problems have been easing, but there are lots of reasons to expect more turbulence in the months ahead.
Get in line.
Monica Wells/Alamy
Exporters and importers alike are facing more bureaucracy as the full effect of many of the Brexit changes come into effect.
The UK has set ambitious net zero targets, but is overlooking its imported emissions.
Digifly840/Pixabay
For the UK to achieve its net zero targets, it needs to take action on its carbon-intensive, poorly regulated supply chains.
Like much else, scientific labs have been shut down by the pandemic.
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Supply chain issues, emergency science, social distancing requirements and a lot more free time offered both challenges and opportunities for research scientists.
Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell is signalling hard decisions ahead.
EPA
Transitory or persistent? That’s still the big question facing central bankers over inflation.
A priority given to beer and bubbly shows the strong link between Christmas and alcohol.
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While shelves empty and the “booze trains” run, humanity’s ancient festival dream of equality and justice awaits.
Pj Accetturo/Unsplash
Most of Australia’s books are distributed by just one company. The stress of COVID has hit this supplier, and your local bookshop.
A portion of the Coquihalla Highway near Hope, B.C., is destroyed following heavy rains and mudslides in B.C.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Food supply chains had already taken a serious hit by panic-purchasing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The B.C. floods remind us how effective supply chain management planning can help avert crises.
Supermarkets could soon display smart packaging, raising potential issues around data privacy and bias.
Piqsels
Researchers are looking into the potential technological threats to data safety and privacy from the smart supermarkets of the future.
Shopping bags are getting heavier – on your wallet.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Inflation soared 6.2% in October from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 1990.
Environmental, social and governance problems in a company’s supply chain can be hard for investors to track.
KDP via Getty Images
Two supply chain experts see a major flaw in how ratings agencies measure companies’ environmental, social and governance performance.